01 February 2015

1600 chairs

Or maybe only 1550. The place: Istanbul. The artist: Doris Salcedo. Her theme: Art as repair.

"In 2002, Salcedo placed 280 chairs at the Palace of Justice in Bogotá "to pay homage to those killed here in a failed guerrilla coup seventeen years earlier." In 2003, she filled the Istanbul Biennial space between two buildings with 1,550 chairs "evoking the masses of faceless migrants who underpin our globalised economy.""Salcedo's work provokes many questions after a first look, but she does provide answers to the mystery. The approach she takes to portraying these messages are unique and bold although she is using everyday objects like chairs."

Tuesday is Drawing Day - why not join in, wherever you are? Find somewhere that has interesting things - it needn't be a museum, it could be your own home! - and just draw, using whatever media you want. Ask some friends to join you, then have a nice lunch.

The London group has grown to the point where it's getting difficult to find a cafe table large enough, and reluctantly I must say that it is no longer open to new members.

8 August - Docklands, either the architecture or the covered garden or the museum. Meet in the museum cafe for lunch.